--- description: Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has broken a significant campaign promise to reform the country's electoral system title: Justin Trudeau Just Broke a Major Campaign Promise image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt08a624fa71803964/6988b8712dce013f4c9ec1e0/justin-trudeau-canada-electoral-system.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Justin Trudeau Just Broke a Major Campaign Promise by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Feb 2, 2017 12:16 AM CUT  Justin Trudeau, Canada's prime minister, waves during the end of a town hall event in Bellevile, Ontario, Canada, on Thursday, Jan. 12, 2017. Justin Trudeau, Canada's prime minister, waves during the end of a town hall event in Bellevile, Ontario, Canada, on Thursday, Jan. 12, 2017.Cole Burston—Bloomberg via Getty Images by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Feb 2, 2017 12:16 AM CUT Canada Prime Minister [Justin Trudeau](http://time.com/4652711/justin-trudeau-canada-refugees/ "undefined") broke a significant campaign promise to reform the country’s electoral system, in a move an opposition party called a “betrayal.” Trudeau on Wednesday told Minister of Democratic Institutions Karina Gould that there were no longer plans to overhaul the country’s electoral system, abandoning his 2015 election campaign promise that Canada would have a new voting system by the 2019 election. He said there was no clear consensus on establishing a new voting system. “There is no consensus on how, or even whether, to reform our electoral system,” he said in the House of Commons during Question Period, the [Toronto _Star_ reported](https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2017/02/01/trudeau-drops-pledge-to-reform-canadas-electoral-system-in-his-first-term.html "undefined"). Trudeau in 2015 vowed to change the current [first-past-the-post](http://time.com/4079278/justin-trudeau-canada-prime-minister/ "undefined") voting system, which generally benefits conservatives who vote in a block for the Conservative Party of Canada, and leaves out smaller and more liberal parties. Trudeau himself is the leader of the Liberal Party. The opposition New Democrats said Trudeau lied to progressive voters when he made the promise during his campaign. “What Mr. Trudeau proved himself today was to be a liar,” New Democratic party member of parliament Nathan Cullen [told](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/01/justin-trudeau-abandons-voter-reform-canada "undefined") reporters, according to Reuters. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4657483/justin-trudeau-voting-reform-campaign-promise-canada/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4657483/justin-trudeau-voting-reform-campaign-promise-canada/"},"headline":"Justin Trudeau Just Broke a Major Campaign Promise","datePublished":"2017-02-02T00:16:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T03:05:22.994Z","description":"He abandoned his promise to reform Canada's voting system","url":"https://time.com/4657483/justin-trudeau-voting-reform-campaign-promise-canada/","keywords":["Canada","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt08a624fa71803964/6988b8712dce013f4c9ec1e0/justin-trudeau-canada-electoral-system.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt08a624fa71803964/6988b8712dce013f4c9ec1e0/justin-trudeau-canada-electoral-system.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Holds Town Hall Event","caption":"Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Holds Town Hall Event","creditText":"Cole Burston—Bloomberg via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4657483/justin-trudeau-voting-reform-campaign-promise-canada/","name":"Justin Trudeau Just Broke a Major Campaign Promise"}}]}] ```